Only 1 per cent of the population see education as the country’s most important issue

The TES is reporting that education and schools are less likely to be named as important than unemployment and housing.

Only 1 per cent of the public considers education to be the most important issue facing Britain today, according to a new poll.

Nearly half of respondents (49 per cent) surveyed in January said the NHS was one of the important issues facing Britain, while 17 per cent saw it as the most important issue, according to the Economist/Ipsos MORI findings.

But only 15 per cited education/schools as one of the important issues – a 3 per cent drop since December – and just 1 per cent viewed it as the most important issue. This was despite a succession of warnings about the state of school finances and the potential impact on pupils’ education.

Apart from the NHS, “the common market/Brexit/the EU/Europe” was the second most popular choice for the most important issue. This was followed by “immigration/immigrants” then “the economy”, “housing” and “unemployment”. These were all more likely than education to be named as an important issue.

Out of the 10 topics most likely to be mentioned by respondents as being important, “education/schools” was the least likely to be seen as the “most important” issue overall. For the poll, the 970 respondents were chosen as a representative sample of the general population.

Jonathan Simons, director of policy and advocacy at the Varkey Foundation, said: “People can only worry about so many things at once. As certain things become more important, by default other things become less important.”

I am quite surprised that education comes so far down on the list. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter. ~ Sophie

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